eCommerce Websites

eCommerce websites are becoming more important and useful for the world’s economy. The old-style shop you travel to is quickly becoming a thing of the past. With social distancing and the human practice of solving problems related to our survival, it was not too far of a mental stretch to see online stores and shopping increasing more than ever before.

SHOPPING ONLINE

Shopping online has increased by 30% (according to CNBC) and will no doubt continue as shoppers find it safer and easier to stay home and order everything from essentials like groceries to non-essentials like play stations.

Not only have the numbers of shoppers increased but the online storefronts have also become much more competitive and people who never imagined selling goods and services on the web have jumped into a new adventure with some having great success.

Retailers Selling Non-Essentials See Double & Triple-Digit Increases In Online Sales During COVID-19 Crisis.

Even though most of the retail industry is facing uncertainty with the current situation around coronavirus, several US-based direct to consumer brands selling non-essential items have, somewhat remarkably, experienced record-breaking online sales in recent weeks.

This appears to be a trend. Data from ACI Worldwide shows that many online retail categories saw an uptick in sales during March—as much as a 74% year over year increase compared to March 2018.

PRODUCT SEARCH

An online store makes it so easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. Almost every website has a search bar near the top and makes it faster to find whatever you want from colors to sizes and brands.

There are a few factors that newbies to this online storefront business will either need to learn about or will be smart to hire a specialist to implement SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which enables the store to compete on the search engine pages. Keywords and phrases need to be worked into the websites so when someone searches for a product that you are selling, they may see one of your listings and click on it.
One of the big winners in all this is the search engines such as Google. They make it easier for your store products to be found by using their keyword tools and help you by showing how many searches are done every month for products like yours. As you learn more about this you’ll see how much competition is out there and how much it will cost you to rise to the “top of the page” in the search.

MOBILE COMMERCE

Mobile commerce sales are projected to reach $2.91 trillion in 2020 – 25.4 percent more than the $2.32 trillion it registered in 2019. Mobile commerce growth has seen an average year-on-year increase of 33.8 percent since 2016. Already, revenue from mobile commerce sales in 2020 is more than two times that of 2016.
According to Global Stats counter, worldwide statistics show mobile phones get 50.34%, Desktop has 46.67% and tablets get 2.99%. Clearly, shoppers are using their phones to shop and for other tasks as well.
This brings up another important point for online stores. How does your website look on potential buyer’s mobile phones? Using website tools that take your desktop site and convert it into a useful mobile site is very important, to say the least. “Responsive design” must be addressed more than ever now to make sure the site functions well on all devices. If you’re a new online store owner and having a professional developer create your site, make sure you check it on your mobile as most of your potential customers will most likely find you while using theirs.

SELECTING THE ITEM…WHAT IF?

Let’s say you’re online looking for a specific product such as a non-stick frying pan.
You’ve searched on the web and clicked on a Google ad and it takes you to a page on a website with what you think is the perfect product for you.
But wait! What about all those other Google ads that you haven’t looked at? There might be another pan even better.
In this case example, there may be factors that could make you purchase the first one you saw; price, brand, color, reviews, shipping, and the rating the product and seller have.
When we flip back to our store owner, there’s a lot to do in order to make your buyer take the final step and click on “buy”.
The competition has become so fierce that being savvy about what makes a sale has quite an extended learning curve. Again, if you’re new to this online store game, to win at it you will need to explore in-depth what makes success and why your sales may not be as great as intended. Research is a constant priority for not only the newbie retailer but also for the professional in order to really get to the “top of the page” in the search pages.

BUY NOW!

The CTA (Call To Action) is one of the most important factors in sales. If the buyer has been looking at a product and likes everything about it, well sometimes they need a little push.
That push can come in my ways;
• Offering discounts
• Free shipping
• Discounts if two or more items are purchased
• Steller reviews – and many of them
• Variations of color
But, you will notice most online stores will also have a button that says “add to cart”. That is a CTA that takes the sales closer to being a sale.
The final CTA, and the most important one is “BUY NOW”, from there it usually goes to being a closed sale.
Of course, sometimes the buyer gets “cold feet” and runs from the cart. Mailchimp even offers sellers a way to create a message email to buyers that may convince them to come back and finalize the sale or may suggest there may be a product more to their liking.

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

If you’re an online shopper, you will continue to see more and more variations of what you’re looking for and at different prices. If you’re an online retailer, no doubt you’re probably seeing more traffic to your store and will also be aware of how competitive it is out there.

I hope this information was of value to you and would appreciate any comments or suggestions.

If you need help developing an online storefront, we can help you with that as well as look into how making some adjustments to your existing store could increase your sales. Let me know.

Thanks for stopping by.